Cement embolus trapped in the inferior vena cava filter during percutaneous vertebroplasty

Abstract

A 58-year-old female patient, diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of the lung, underwent percutaneous vertebroplasty at the L4 vertebral body due to painful spinal metastases. Because of deep venous thrombosis of the left femoral and iliac veins, an inferior vena cava filter had been placed before vertebroplasty. Bone cement migrated into the venous bloodstream and then was being trapped within the previously placed filter. This case illustrates that caval filter could capture the bone cement and prevent it from migrating to the pulmonary circulation.